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again. “Hold all my calls for the remainder of the day. I’ll be heading out. You can reach me on my cell phone if anything urgent comes up.”
    “Yes, Mr.—”
    Brice hung up the phone before she could finish. First I see my father. Then Lena, you and I have some unfinished business and there is nothing I would enjoy more than having you in my bed, but not before this project is completed. Everything he wanted was within his grasp. Stay focused Brice. It’s what I demand from my staff. I lead by example. Work comes above all.

Chapter Six

    B rice entered the ICU and headed right for the nurses station. “I’m here to see James Henderson, my father.” The last two words were spoken much softer. He was neither proud nor embarrassed about him. It felt more like indifference, and that seemed so much worse.
    “Mr. Henderson is in room eight. He is still weak and heavily medicated. The doctors request visits to be short so he can rest.”
    When he walked into the hospital room he was taken aback by what he saw. It wasn’t the first time he had been in a hospital room but never for a family member. The only sounds were the light beeping of heart monitors not only in his room but throughout the unit.
    His father appeared to be sleeping, so he sat in the only chair in the room. From his seat, he had a clear view of his father’s face. It had been more than three years since they’d seen each other, and time hadn’t been kind to his father. You look twenty years older, Dad. Guess you haven’t changed your ways, have you?
    His father looked gray. Brice had never pictured his father weak. In any way. The man had been the most formidable businessman he’d ever come across. That made leaving Poly-Shyn and starting B&H Advanced Engineering with Asher Barrington all the riskier. His father might not have the chemical engineering background that he did, but he was one ruthless man who didn’t care what it took to get the job done. Results were all that mattered, and if it meant crushing his son’s company to achieve them, he would do it and never look back.
    Either his father didn’t see B&H as a viable threat or he hadn’t bothered following what his flesh and blood was building and becoming. Both a mistake on your part, Dad. I’m your biggest threat and always have been.
    Brice was no longer a child who needed to be coddled. There were many nights as a young boy when he’d wished to have someone there to tell him it was only a bad dream, that everything was going to be okay. How any father could have children and not be there for them, in good times or bad, was beyond him.
    Sitting in the room with nothing but his thoughts wasn’t a place he wanted to be for long. Bringing up the past would only hinder the outcome he strived for in his future. Getting up from the cold plastic chair, he walked to the side of the bed. Guess you weren’t the one who wanted me here, Dad. His voice full of sarcasm, he said gruffly, “Yeah, this has been a great talk; let’s do this again in another three years.” Good try, Zoey.
    When he turned to walk out, he saw his youngest brother Dean standing in the doorway. His hair was wild, as though he just gotten out of bed. Knowing you, Dean, you probably did.
    “Good ole Dad asked to see you too?”
    Dean shook his head. “Dad had only one child he cared anything about, Brice, and that’s you.”
    It wasn’t jealousy in his brother’s voice. Over the years, they all learned very fast if Dad noticed you in any way, you would only experience his wrath. Your only hope each day was to go unnoticed. Brice was the most vocal back then and probably still was today.
    “Zoey called you too, I take it?”
    Nodding, Dean replied, “Yeah, said you were going to be here. That I might want to come and make sure you were okay.”
    Arching a brow, Brice asked, “Did you think you would find me sitting here all emotional?”
    Laughing, Dean said, “Hell, no. More worried you were going to get